The Coolest Cat
by aeviterna
Summary: Mikoto comes home from the Academy with the phrase "cool cat"… and Sasuke and Karin don't know what to do with themselves. Part of the Two and a Half Uchihas series.


**A/N: **First installment in my Two and a Half Uchihas series. Please read more on my profile as you will likely be confused otherwise. Plot credit goes to one precious anon from homusubi/katkage tumblr.

* * *

"I'm home!"

Sasuke lifted his eyes from his book only to see the front door swing open and hit the adjacent wall with a loud bang.

"HI DAD!"

Mikoto stopped to give Sasuke a bright smile before kicking off both her shoes in one motion. Sasuke watched in silent amusement as his 9-year-old daughter, while running into the kitchen, took out the pigtails that Karin had painstakingly styled her hair into that morning. Mikoto had inherited Sasuke's spiky, dark blue hair, but it was pronouncedly more disheveled than his and stood up in every direction. Karin styled Mikoto's hair every morning into two low pigtails in an effort to make it more presentable ("You are the clan heiress, we cannot have you walking around with hair like this!"), and without fail, Mikoto would take them out before the end of the day.

Sasuke settled back into his book, waiting for the inevitable clash of mother and daughter in the kitchen.

"Hi mom! What's for–"

"MIKOTO! How many times have I told you not to mess with your hair?!"

From his seat in the living room, Sasuke could picture Mikoto pouting as she always did at this question.

"But I like my hair like this! It's spiky like dad's but even spikier… kind of like lightning!" Mikoto's voice went up in excitement. "It's like Chidori! When I finally learn it I can have the cool cat Chidori technique and do it while having cool cat Chidori hair too!"

_Cool cat?_

Once again, Sasuke looked up from his book, intrigued by the phrase. He had never heard such an expression before. His peers had had a slew of their own odd catchphrases in their youth (that stuck with them in adulthood, Sasuke noted dryly), but not one of them had been "cool cat".

Putting his book down, Sasuke walked into the kitchen. Karin had enough temper for both of them and it concerned him that she hadn't said anything in response to Mikoto's "cool cat" outburst yet. His wife was as fiery as he was reserved; silence from Karin was worrisome.

Sure enough, once Sasuke entered the kitchen, his wife was slumped in a chair, holding a ladle in one hand and rubbing her temple with the other. Mikoto looked toward her dad with pleading eyes, knowing she had upset Karin somehow.

Sasuke cleared his throat. "Karin."

Karin sighed. "I'm fine." She stood and returned the ladle to the stove before facing Mikoto again. "Where on earth did you pick up something like 'cool cat', young lady?"

"The Academy! Everyone's saying it now!"

Karin's eyebrow shot up. "Everyone? I'm pretty sure not everyone is saying it, Mikoto."

"They are too! It's like the new way of saying something's awesome!" Mikoto pouted and crossed her arms in defiance. "I bet you Kushina and everyone in Konoha say it too!"

Sasuke gave a rare snort at the thought of Naruto and Sakura's daughter calling things "cool cat".

Karin threw her husband a glance before returning her attention to Mikoto, her eyes serious and steely. "Mikoto, you are the heiress to the Uchiha clan. You will be the one to carry the legacy that your father has worked tirelessly to return to the Uchiha name–"

"I know, Mom," Mikoto said with a huff before rolling her eyes. "You give me this speech every other day. That is _not _cool cat."

"–and part of being the clan heiress means that you _do not _use phrases like 'cool cat,'" Karin finished, her voice high. She looked toward Sasuke, mouthing, _Please knock some sense into your daughter!_

"I think it's… cute?"

Karin gave her husband a look of incredulity, clearly not expecting such an answer from Sasuke. Mikoto, however, was beaming, her smile reaching each end of her face.

"See, Dad thinks it's cute! Dad, you're such a cool cat!"

Sasuke ignored his wife's glare and smiled at his daughter. He ruffled Mikoto's hair and said, "Why don't you go upstairs and do your homework? I'll call you down when dinner's ready."

Mikoto grinned before dashing back into the living room. As the sound of her footsteps disappeared, Sasuke turned to his wife to say something, but Karin beat him to it.

"It is _not cute_! It is _lame_! She can't say lame things like that!" Karin whispered angrily, clearly afraid that Mikoto would hear from the floor above. "And what was that when Mikoto mentioned Kushina saying it? You cannot possibly think that the daughter of the Hokage and the best medical ninja in the land is saying stupid little catchphrases like that, too?!"

"I am sure Naruto and Sakura taught Kushina better, don't worry," Sasuke reassured his wife. Karin was easily flustered, and after over a decade of marriage, Sasuke had taken it upon himself to remain the more level-headed of the two in any situation. Calming down Karin was nearly second nature to him now. "Karin, Mikoto just turned nine. She needs to have some fun, especially since she's had a year of extra lessons now because she's the clan heiress. If that fun includes 'stupid little catchphrases' then so be it. This will all eventually blow over and she'll find some new cute, lame thing to say, so let's just let her be, okay?"

A silence fell over the kitchen as Karin considered her husband's words. Sasuke momentarily left Karin's side to turn down the heat on the stove, which had been making low hissing noises. When Sasuke returned to his wife, the softening of her expression told Sasuke that he had gotten through to her.

"You're right," Karin sighed. "I guess I should let her have more fun. She's still a kid, after all…"

"There we go," Sasuke said with a smile. "Now you should really get back to the soup or it's going to burn. I'm going to go upstairs and help Mikoto with her homework."

Karin rolled her eyes as she returned to the stove. "You mean make sure she's doing it."

"I'm sure she is." In all truth, Mikoto was likely doing handstands on her bed, but Sasuke didn't say the thought out loud. "And I wasn't kidding when I said I thought it was cute. You know, the cool cat thing."

Sasuke heard Karin heave an exasperated sigh as he left the kitchen, and her voice trailed out behind him as he climbed the stairs. "In which case I had better not hear you say it too when we visit Konoha this weekend!"

A small smile formed on Sasuke's lips, and he opened the door to Mikoto's bedroom.

• • • • •

–– _that night_

"Cool cat. Cool... cat. Cool cat? Cooool cat."

Sasuke stared back at himself in the mirror, his eyes dark and hollow. He remembered a time in his life when he likely would have had fun describing things as "cool cat". Father would have scolded him like Karin had Mikoto, and Mother would have told him that it was okay once Father left the room. He would have described every new technique Itachi taught him as "cool cat", maybe.

Maybe.

Sasuke was still lost in thought–fingers gripping the dresser, eyes looking down at nothing in particular–when Karin slipped into the room, and he hardly noticed as she moved toward him and placed her hands on his shoulders. Her touch was warm, comforting; everything Sasuke needed right now. Karin was quiet as she eased down Sasuke's shoulders (which were tense, he now realized) and massaged them gently.

"Thinking?"

The tenderness in Karin's voice soothed Sasuke more than her hands could. He took a breath before turning to his wife and managing a faint smile. "Yes, a bit."

"Mm." Karin paused, and her brow furrowed. "Wait, is this about what happened with Mikoto earlier? I told you, it's fine, she can say that stupid 'cool cat' thing all she wants. I will let her have her fun, just like you told me to."

Sasuke couldn't help but laugh softly at his wife; she was the always worrying one, after all. "No, no. I know you will. It's just… seeing Mikoto say something like that so freely…" Sasuke trailed off, unsure of how to continue.

"It made you think of how you might have said it when you were young, too, if everything didn't go like it did."

The room was still for a moment. Then Karin moved forward and put her arms around Sasuke. She looked up at him with a serious expression and said, "You know, if you couldn't say it then, you can still say it now."

"I… what?"

"You may have lost a family, but you've acquired so many more." Karin looked directly into Sasuke's eyes, and Sasuke could hear the gravity behind her words as she continued. "You have me and you have Mikoto. You have this entire village–the village you created with your own hands, Sasuke."

The fire in Karin's eyes was unmistakeable as she spoke. "You still have Suigetsu, for reasons I don't understand, that ass–"

Sasuke laughed.

"–and Juugo, who has never left your side. And Naruto, and Sakura, and everyone else in every village out there who respects you." Karin paused, considering her next words. "So if you couldn't say it freely then, you can say it now, Sasuke. Because you have all the family and friends who love you, and care for you, and who will not judge you if you want to say something as lame as… cool cat."

Karin pulled a face as she said the last two words, and Sasuke had to smirk.

"Thanks, Karin. You are…" Sasuke searched for the right expression. "You're the coolest cat."

This time, Karin smiled.

"You, too."


End file.
